To-date, Tajikistan stands in the 7th place of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in terms of the number of medals, according to the National Olympic Committee of Tajikistan (NOC).
On September 21, Tajik athletes won three more silver medals. Emomnazar Karimzoda (-90kg) and Farhod Annaqulov (+90kg) grabbed two silver medals for Tajikistan in the belt wrestling, finishing second in their weight categories.
Besides, Behrouz Khojazoda won a silver medal in kurash (is one of the Turkic terms for “wrestling” and specifically refers to a number of folk wrestling styles practiced in Central Asia), finishing second in a -73kg category.
On September 20, Manouchehr Nematov won silver medal in taekwondo (WTF). In final he lost Iranian athlete Mehdi Ishaghi.
Meanwhile, specialists say Tajik athletes can win gold medals in kickboxing and sambo (a Soviet martial art and combat sport).
To-date, Tajik athletes have won four silver and nineteen bronze medals at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat.
Recall, the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is taking place in Turkmenistan from September 17 to 21 and Tajik athletes are competing in chess, belt wrestling, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), kickboxing, powerlifting, taekwondo (WTF), kurash, jiu-jitsu, sambo, and track and field athletics.
In all, 6,000 athletes from 62 countries will participate in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, the source added.
The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which is also counted as the 5th Asian Indoor Games will be held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 2017. Ashgabat, first in the former Soviet Central Asian region, won the right to host the Asian Indoor Games. The host city was chosen in Kuwait on December 19, 2010. On July 6, 2013, the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia was officially handed over to the mayor of the city of Ashgabat.
The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games will be held at the Ashgabat Olympic Complex, which is a unique facility which has no parallel in the Central Asian region. The Complex boasts of over 30 structures, which also includes 15 competition venues, an Athletes' Village and a Paralympic Rehabilitation Medical Center. The construction was launched by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. On November 5, 2010, the Turkmenistan President took part in the official stone laying ceremony for the Olympic Village. Investment in the first phase amounted to nearly $2 billion. The second phase of construction cost $3 billion. The total cost of the Olympic Village was $5 billion and the construction was carried by Turkish construction company Polimeks.
